The (Un)Changing Derivative Suit

Corporate litigation has changed dramatically over the past twenty-five years. In 1995, Congress adopted the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which made it much harder for shareholders to file securities class actions. Delaware courts recently announced that they will review settlements in merger class actions much more strictly. And boards of directors are now empowered to include new rules for shareholder lawsuits in corporate charters and bylaws. Yet one type of shareholder lawsuit has stayed largely untouched from these legal developments — shareholder derivative suits. These suits face the same problems today that they have faced for decades, despite garnering little attention from legal reformers. This book chapter first explains how shareholder derivative suits have stayed under the legal radar for so long. It then argues that the time has come for the legal system to re-examine its approach to these suits